THE EDIT

Philip Mould & Co are delighted to announce that our portrait of the architect Ralph Simons (Symons), which dates to the mid-1590s, has been acquired by the National Portrait Gallery. The full press release is available here.

The portrait [NPG 7021], which was previously known only from a later copy, was discovered in an Italian auction in 2015 and constitutes the earliest known easel portrait of a British architect. Simons is best known for the construction and redesign of a number of Cambridge university colleges. Click here to read more about the discovery story.

The portrait is currently on display in Room 2 at the National Portrait Gallery, London.